i do not condone incestuous, pedophilic, nonconsensual, racist, etc., ships in any capacity. all ships i depict contain mutually-and-enthusiastically-consenting, non-related adults.
picking characters apart individually as well as in a couple/group dynamic, adding layers of complexity through romance, sex and conflict just never gets old to me. i've wanted to jot down some of my thoughts on shipping (and its culture online), so below are miniature musings on one of my favorite pastimes and how i personally navigate it! bear with me, i'm going to try and squeeze in a lot of opinions in as little space as possible, but just know that all of these topics could be expanded upon much much more than what i'm delving into below!

in my opinion (that you do not have to agree with!), truly "Good [interesting, compelling, complex, fun] Ships" acknowledge canon characterization and bends it to create new, interesting takes on all characters involved.

they're made of love for the character, the universe in which they exist, and individual analysis of their traits, flaws, politics, strengths, and so on, to the fan's preference. i wholeheartedly encourage the rejection of fanon and the use of canon as a springboard for your own ideas. the source material exists to be picked apart and made to suit your own imagination... thus is the point of transformative works in the first place!

ships can be made interesting with the help of:

• love! letting your adoration for these characters/franchises shine through! this is the most important!
• understanding of canonical characterization; this doesn't mean you have to Biblically Follow it! it's just a good idea to know as much as you can! we can't have headcanons without the... canon!
• emphasis on solo characterization; they exist as individuals before they exist together!
• thinking critically about the politics, setting, and motivations of those around them (and the author's intentions with such). all of these things affect a character's writing!
• and so on!

they are not defined by:

• tropes; these exist to bolster characters/plots, not solely define them!
• canonical legitimacy; plenty of ships are canon and objectively Uninteresting, so why does it matter if it's canon!
• fandom popularity; sometimes it's deserved, sometimes it's not. decide for yourself!
• moral alignment; "good guys should only date good guys", force-aligning morally gray characters to be Good Or Evil, etc. stop robbing characters of their depth for the sake of wanting them to kiss!
• and so on!

i also fully concede that for some people it "isn't that serious". i half-agree; shipping in and of itself is not serious, but the analysis of media, to me, is! it's very fun for me, it's how i unwind, it's a hobby! i show love to these franchises by picking them apart down to the atoms and adding sex and romance and whatever else might please me. :-)

i enjoy angst, gray morality and conflict; it's part of good storytelling! i'm typically Not interested in any of my ships "living the nuclear family, picket-fence life" whatsoever, and i think it's frustrating that it's most often women characters that get slotted into this as their "ideal endgame"!

i believe there is absolutely a time and a place for exploration of "intense themes" like rape, pedophilia, incest, racism, or abuse, but i do not believe in portraying them in ways that are "erotically titilating" to the viewer. i also believe that kinks do not exist in a vacuum, and every human creation (yes, even fandom stuff) is subject to bias, conscious and unconscious. furthermore, all art is political - art as a whole, no matter the medium, is influenced by the politics of its time, creator (knowingly and unknowingly), and the society it was created in! furthermore, belonging to one opppressed demographic does not absolve someone from perpetuating harmful stereotypes or rhetoric about another one (or even the one(s) we belong to).

a lot of popular "yaoi tropes" are based in misogyny (and homophobia, lol). for example, i deeply resent framing submission, being penetrated, bottoming, etc as "lesser-than/inherently degrading" compared to topping, penetrating, domming, etc and i don't think it's a subversive - or even interesting - way of portraying fictional chracters or sexual relationships whatsoever. i'm also extremely frustrated by woman characters getting horribly mistreated (brutalized, misogynistically characterized, etc) to bolster a relationship between two men. just because you are queer yourself does not mean you can't perpetuate harmful racist, misogynsitic, lgbt+phobic rhetoric with your interpretations!

"does fiction affect reality?" YES! propaganda? fiction affecting reality. your desire for representation in fictional settings? fiction affecting reality. what about the impacts of movies like birth of a nation (source), or jaws (source)? fiction affecting reality!!!!! "i just choose not to let fiction affect me like that" that's impossible! bias exists everywhere, in everything we do. this does not mean that we are Literally doomed to imitate every single thing we see, but to understand just how capable of influence human being are, especially views of prejudice, racism, misogyny, lgbt+phobia, and the intersection of such.

• for example, you obviously aren't going to run out and kill somebody because you did it on grand theft auto, but you might think of [woman] sex workers - an oppressed class of people (often specifically women of color) in need of protection from rape, racism, and so on - as vapid and/or deserving of harm because grand theft auto has framed them that way. even though these games have been credited to occasionally satirize aspects of popular american culture, it doesn't prevent people from misinterpreting it as such and taking it as a direct endorsement of the behavior, a line that rockstar notoriously dances on in order to ensure profitability from progressives and bigots.


• this is not only a failure of the viewer, but can also be a failure of the creator (in this case, failure to distinguish "satire/criticism" from endorsement in how grand theft auto portrays marginalized groups). do you see what i mean? "influence" is not always direct or obvious. it's subtle, insidious, and intentionally hard to identify. which is why analytical vigilance is a must-have skill!

"oh so all art has to be productive/morally righteous/feminist/etc?!" no, not at all... i don't think a "truly perfect" piece of media even exists tbh! we must be honest about identifying flawed themes, designs, etc in the things we love. imo, you look worse "defending" that stuff than you do just being like "yup, that's definitely there and it is in poor taste/an objective flaw of the media/character/etc"! i also don't think it's a bad thing to do some research, have some compassion, and be open to serious discussion about the things you like, how you like them, etc!

this is also why examination of the "text" (movies, literature, games, etc) is so important: these themes aren't just present in the fandom's interpretations, but in the source material too. it's a good thing to be thoughtful of how things are portrayed, and what they are trying (again, intentionally or not. intention matters, but it's not everything!) to communicate!

i am a villain enjoyer, but not a villain condoner; thinking analytically about them is what makes me enjoy them. i absolutely believe that villains can retain their status as such without "headcanons" of fetishized [sexual, racial, pedophilic] violence towards women, children, and people of color for the erotic gratification of the reader. also going to toss out that defining incest, pedophilia, sexual abuse, race play, etc as "taboo subjects" is simply not correct: in a white supremacist society (one in which we are all living right now!), these subjects are actually celebrated, excused, and normalized on a daily basis. so... not very taboo at all, really! i also don't think that piling on these "dark headcanons" for the sake of shock value is good analysis either.

• i'll use one of my favorite characters as an example for this: fans avoid discussion of albert wesker (or any re villain)'s ties to colonialism and eugenics like the plague, but gleefully write/draw rape fetish content of him brutalizing women(/and men, misogynistically, lol) from the franchise and claim it's "good character analysis". how can you write thoughtfully about any of these topics when you ignore key aspects of his character and are only interested in sexual assault as it pertains to your personal fetish for it? how can you claim to be "studying his character" when you refuse to acknowledge his ties to subjects that you don't care about [because you can't figure out how to fetishize it], like white supremacy, despite their influence on his character? using him as a "taboo fetish vector" is not "analysis"!
  
  that being said, though he canonically did not sexually harm anyone in the canon, i do think one could make a connection between the [sexually, racially, across-class, etc] predatory nature of white supremacy [against marginalized groups] and use this in an interpretation of him. but i don't think it's effective to do so as a means of masturbatory "isn't this so hot?!" material as opposed to genuine character study and respect for the weight (and victims) of such topics.

a dysfunctional, doomed relationship can be such without the torture of minority groups for the viewer's pleasure! likewise, these themes can and should be portrayed in media, but must be done so thoughtfully and not for the sake of "ao3 shipbrained fandomisms". sometimes we have to put down our shipping and lgbt+ headcanons and discuss certain subjects, characters, and themes seriously!

this is a thread by a twitter user that summarizes some of my feelings on "proshipping" and why i'm against it. i find the entire subculture to be extremely anti-intellectual (and generally hostile) spaces that wind up perpetuating rape culture, racism, misogyny, and conservative talking points more than combating them. i also heavily disagree with a lot of popular "proship sentiment" (the concept of "fandom cops" existing, "fiction doesn't affect reality", "fandom is supposed to be an escape, free from criticism!", etc). i highly recommend checking out this series of articles on several of these "hot button issues" from the perspective of a black person in fandom! i also have a tag on my tumblr that features lots of good fandom critique posts from different users that i am in agreement with!

all of this to say, i believe that analysis is adoration! you should do all these things i'm talking about because you should want to think deeply about the stuff you love, right? like, otherwise, what is the point?! it bums me out that people think that analysis is some kind of chore instead of something people do for fun! i don't think it's "being a hater" to deeply ponder the things we love!

for some more of my thoughts about writing fics, my process and whatnot, you can check out my blog:

• Getting To Know a Character for Writing; thoughts on gathering information on a character to then turn into headcanons
• Writng Recommendations; tips for aspiring writers, what tools i use, how i outline my creative process, and more!
• Posting Fanfiction: My Process + Posting Schedule; how i avoid burnout, stay inspired, pace myself, and post fics!
• Writing Tips; taking jot-downs and discord snippets and turning them into full-fledged longfic!

i've really enjoyed coming into my own style as a writer, so if anything i do can help someone else, that would be epic! if not that's okay too though. the process is just as important as the execution!

throuple ships also mean i enjoy any combination of those ships as duos too! these are based exclusively on my own interpretations and headcanons. just becuase a ship isn't on here doesn't mean i don't like it, i just keep this place for the ones that occupy my mind quite a bit or that i would create for! also, these aren't in any order (other than the ones at the top being my favorite), nor are they designated by who tops or bottoms.

ALL-TIME AND ALWAYS;

• albert wesker x leon kennedy x ada wong (resident evil)
• RED sniper x RED medic (team fortress 2)
• veronica santangelo x christine royce (fallout: new vegas)

FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS;

• veronica santangelo x christine royce
• benny gecko x yes man x courier six
• veronica santangelo x courier six
• doctor dala x courier six

RESIDENT EVIL;

• albert wesker x leon kennedy x ada wong
• albert wesker x excella gionne
• albert wesker x jill valentine
• claire redfield x alexia ashford
• claire redfield x steve burnside
• sherry birkin x jake muller
• chris redfield x jill valentine x carlos oliveira

TEAM FORTRESS 2;

• medic x sniper
• administrator x miss pauling
• spy x heavy
• spy x scout's mom
• heavy x sniper x medic
• engineer x sniper x demoman
• spy x engineer